DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Vin·e·gar n.
 1. A sour liquid used as a condiment, or as a preservative, and obtained by the spontaneous (acetous) fermentation, or by the artificial oxidation, of wine, cider, beer, or the like.
 Note: ☞ The characteristic sourness of vinegar is due to acetic acid, of which it contains from three to five per cent. Wine vinegar contains also tartaric acid, citric acid, etc.
 2. Hence, anything sour; -- used also metaphorically.
    Here's the challenge: . . . I warrant there's vinegar and pepper in't.   --Shak.
 Aromatic vinegar, strong acetic acid highly flavored with aromatic substances.
 Mother of vinegar. See 4th Mother.
 Radical vinegar, acetic acid.
 Thieves' vinegar. See under Thief.
 Vinegar eel Zool., a minute nematode worm (Leptodera oxophila, or Anguillula acetiglutinis), commonly found in great numbers in vinegar, sour paste, and other fermenting vegetable substances; -- called also vinegar worm.
 Vinegar lamp Chem., a fanciful name of an apparatus designed to oxidize alcohol to acetic acid by means of platinum.
 Vinegar plant. See 4th Mother.
 Vinegar tree Bot., the stag-horn sumac (Rhus typhina), whose acid berries have been used to intensify the sourness of vinegar.
 Wood vinegar. See under Wood.

 Ar·o·mat·ic Ar·o·mat·ic·al a.  Pertaining to, or containing, aroma; fragrant; spicy; strong-scented; odoriferous; as, aromatic balsam.
 Aromatic compound Chem., one of a large class of organic substances, as the oils of bitter almonds, wintergreen, and turpentine, the balsams, camphors, etc., many of which have an aromatic odor. They include many of the most important of the carbon compounds and may all be derived from the benzene group, C6H6. The term is extended also to many of their derivatives.
 Aromatic vinegar. See under Vinegar.
 ◄ ►